Beauty Returned
by C. Selene Belle
Summary: A one shot . . . okay, don't hurt me. It's Van and Hitomi but different and thankfully shorter. heh *^.^*


Author's Note: Okay, this is a really half-assed one shot written about characters I usually don't write about. But the concept was just playing on my mind so much that I really couldn't think of anything else.

The wind was exceptionally warm today. It blew through the trees and carried with it the scent of pine and birch. It played through the boy-king's raven hair, ruffling the silky black strands about his handsome face. He closed his eyes and smiled towards the sun, content on his rock beside the lake. This was a perfect day - the perfect day. He knew all along that this day would come, prepared himself for this moment.

Hitomi had left him in the spring, just four years prior. He had known this too. Although both their hearts longed to stay near each other, there were things left undone. Things that had to be finished before they could meet again. So she had gone back to her world on the Mystic Moon, the planet Earth, and he had stayed in Gaea. He brought his people together, and the rest was done by them. Such dedication astounded him, but it was one of the many things he had learned since then.

As he opened his eyes again, he gazed toward the lake. The trees of these wood were beginning to color for Autumn. He was surrounded by the reds and golds of falling leaves, watching as they fluttered into the water and were pushed by the gentle breeze along the ripples of the lake's surface. Yes, it was definitely a peaceful day.

His kingdom was now rebuilt, and its humble glory practically unchanged from before its destruction. The city was once again populated by merchants and carpenters, artisans and shepherds - all walks of life, and all of their kin now resided in Fanelia. Although dwellings in the city were nothing more than adobe and wood, the sight of its completion had nearly rendered the young king to tears. Then he had thought how proud Hitomi would be to see what he and his people had accomplished.

Even the palace, his home, was rebuilt from the ruins that they once were. Not only was the edifice erected, but it was warmed - warmed by the people who frequented its halls. In Fanelia, everywhere you walked, it was warm and full of life. Van had felt this warmth when he strolled down the wood planked hallways of the East Wing - towards his chambers.

He smiled again, the wind playing against his cheek again. He was already nineteen, a year over his expected wedding age. How his advisors gave him grief for waiting too long to marry. They knew not of his very special arrangements, as fate had shown him in his dreams. Still, he could not help but feel amused at how his advisors guffawed at his antics to charm a prospective princess or court lady and swiftly turn them down before the sun set the very day they had met.

The sun was setting now, streams of yellows and reds and oranges playing across the early evening sky. The Mystic Moon was high overhead, with its younger sister the white moon just near it. It was time. Van smiled, his amber colored eyes twinkling. There was no celestial fanfare, no royal announcement. The breeze blew again, stronger than before, and birds erupted into the sky from the woods behind him.

His heart thumped madly against his chest, and his smile was so wide that his face cramped slightly - the anticipation was wonderful. He would wait here, as he should, and she would come - this is how fate told him it would happen. Oh, how the world sang! The trees hummed such a melodic tune, he feared he would go mad with sheer happiness. Tears had already begun to form in his eyes and he swallowed the lump in his throat.

Footsteps. So slight against the foliage of the forest floor that he wondered if he truly had heard anything besides his own imagination. He couldn't bear waiting any longer and he stood, turning. There before him was his angel returned. She looked only slightly different from what he remembered. Her hair, still the same light brown color, was cut short as it had been when they first met. Her eyes still shone with all of their emerald splendor and sparkled as she smiled - his heart fluttered uncontrollably. She wore a long dress, cream in color with lace about the sleeves. She held nothing in her hands, had no bags by her feet - yet Van knew she had come prepared. She, too, knew of this day.

"Sorry I'm late." She said demurely. Van laughed softly, not letting his tears fall but instead he held out his arm. Hitomi stepped forward, taking his arm. She was then escorted back to the palace in Fanelia and there would be crowned Queen.


End file.
